After he was dropped from almost every other social media outlet, Alex Jones was still allowed to post via Twitter. However, now leftists are hoping to ban him from that platform as well.
Alex Jones is one of the more polarizing American media figures who claim to provide information on the news and the general goings-on of the United States and the rest of the world. He’s been repeatedly targeted on social media for the things that he says, and sometimes, for the way that he says them.
Now, in the face of bans from Facebook, Apple, YouTube, and Spotify, all for allegations of ‘hate speech’ and promoting violence, users are putting pressure on Twitter to ban him and his news organization from their platform. When did free speech, even if it is zany and worried about conspiracy theories, become ‘hate speech?’
Indeed, all but one of the major social media platforms in use these days unpublished Alex Jones’ pages.
Facebook unpublished four of his pages, allegedly for ‘repeated violations of community standards.’
Facebook removed multiple pages, including the Alex Jones Channel page, the Alex Jones page, the Infowars page (his media site), and the Infowars Nightly News page. This step came after the platform suspended him, personally, for 30 days for his role in “posting violating content” to those pages.
After that suspension, a spokesperson for Facebook said that they had taken content down from his pages for a number of ‘violations,’ including glorifying violence as well as using dehumanizing language to describe transgender people as well as Muslims and immigrants.
The spokesperson noted that none of the violations which spurred the actions were related to his conspiracy theories.
YouTube removed his account over him repeatedly appearing in videos, even though he was on a 90-day suspension from the platform.
When they did, they issued a statement which made no mention of Jones by name but said that all users who utilize the platform agree to comply with their terms of service and their community guidelines. Furthermore, they said that when users repeatedly violate policies, such as those against hate speech and harassment, the company terminates their accounts.
Allegedly, their specific reason for banning him was that he continued to appear in livestreams hosted on other accounts and channels on the site despite being banned from YouTube for 90 days.
Spotify removed every single one of a series of his podcasts for “hate content.” They removed the entirety of the Alex Jones Show from its platform saying that the show repeatedly violated their prohibited content policies.
Apple removed all of his podcasts except for one, including the daily Alex Jones show podcast and four other podcasts he produces.
The only one not removed from Apple Podcasts was Real News with David Knight.
It’s difficult to pinpoint precisely what post, or what portion of the posted content, set off the bans.
However, by removing him from YouTube, Jones lost access to a vast audience.
These are not the only issues Jones is facing currently, however.
He’s being sued in the state of Texas by two parents of children killed in the Sandy Hook shooting who are seeking a million dollars due to alleged harassment which they claim was driven by his shows.
Twitter, however, is apparently continuing to stand by him.
A person with ‘direct knowledge’ of how Twitter is handling the ongoing situation said that currently, InfoWars is not in violation of any of the company’s policies.
However, some users are asking Twitter, and its co-founder and Chief Executive Officer, Jack Dorsey, to ban Jones from the platform anyway.
Pinterest is also still allowing Alex Jones to utilize their platform, though that is not quite the same as other social media sources.
Private enterprises such as YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, and Apple Podcast are, of course, free to do what they wish to do, beholden only to their investors, shareholders, and users.
However, these platforms exist to allow people to communicate. If users see that the ability to discuss ideas freely is being reigned in, it could cause users to leave the platforms for other, uncensored, options.
Furthermore, ‘hate speech’ seems like a questionable reason to bar someone from posting. After all, Sarah Jeong, the Asian-American writer who was just hired to be an editor at the New York Times, said a number of hateful things, and many of the same people who are condemning Jones for allegedly blurting out ‘hate speech’ have defended her for similar conduct.
Alex Jones and his conspiracy theories and otherwise absurd comments have gotten him in trouble before. Perhaps this time, he went further than he meant to.
It’s interesting, though, to see that through it all, Twitter is standing by him and allowing him to post. Perhaps Twitter is hoping to emerge as the libertarian platform for the future.
